From what I just read I feel like the dad is just as much to blame. Of course, he didn't commit the crime but he knew she was being abused when she went there. Sounds to me like he just didn't feel like taking care of her anymore. He pawned his other daughter off on a neighbor. Who does something like that? I also said before that Murchison Road which is the road Sleepy Hollow park is off of is a terrible area. It's a very high crime area. People call it "The Murk" and it has always had a bad rep. If I was the kid's parent, I wouldn't let her anywhere near there. This dad knew he was putting her in a bad situation. In my mind, he is just as bad.

there is tons of blame that can go around in this case. if the people that were quoted in the recent article talking about shaniya's dad were so concerned then why didnt they call and make a report? if they were aware of what was going on then i believe they had a responsibility to report it. it's possible they did, but why run to the papers now about it when they could have called in to the appropriate authorities when this was happening?

I agree with you on this. They should have reported it. I know I would have myself in a heartbeat.

I called Social Services one time about a child that was being beaten. He was 8 years old and was beinghit 50 licks at a time with a belt. It really upset me. Social Services treated me like I was bothering them.

From what I just read I feel like the dad is just as much to blame. Of course, he didn't commit the crime but he knew she was being abused when she went there. Sounds to me like he just didn't feel like taking care of her anymore. He pawned his other daughter off on a neighbor. Who does something like that? I also said before that Murchison Road which is the road Sleepy Hollow park is off of is a terrible area. It's a very high crime area. People call it "The Murk" and it has always had a bad rep. If I was the kid's parent, I wouldn't let her anywhere near there. This dad knew he was putting her in a bad situation. In my mind, he is just as bad.

there is tons of blame that can go around in this case. if the people that were quoted in the recent article talking about shaniya's dad were so concerned then why didnt they call and make a report? if they were aware of what was going on then i believe they had a responsibility to report it. it's possible they did, but why run to the papers now about it when they could have called in to the appropriate authorities when this was happening?

I agree with you on this. They should have reported it. I know I would have myself in a heartbeat.

I called Social Services one time about a child that was being beaten. He was 8 years old and was beinghit 50 licks at a time with a belt. It really upset me. Social Services treated me like I was bothering them.

My ex called on some parents who were neglecting their kids. Their dog bit their daughte and she needed stitches and they lied to the hospitalabout what happened because they seem to love their dogmore than their daughter. They still have thatdog too. They also don't take their kids to the doctor, let their kids miss school if they are just running late, don't cook or clean, and when their oldest got hospitalized for being bipolar and attacking the father they had her hospitalized and then NEVER followed up on carefor her disorder after that. The same girl had a tumor on her ovary and had to have surgery, her mother scheduled a surgery for herself on the same day and wasn't even there for her daughter because she was in her own bed. The doctor said for her to take her back for her post op six weeks check up and the mom NEVER did. The girl is now a grown woman and gotmarried just to get insurance so she could go get her own medical stuff taken care of that hermother never followed up on. The State was all happy too look into it until my ex told them that the father was a cop, they then refused to look into the family at all and said that the information was too old (even though the younger daughter had just gotten stitches for that dog biting her) and then quickly got off the phone. I don't have a personal vendetta or anything against Child Protective Services but they seriously dropped the ball when they were called on that family but there are other families that happens with as well. Maybe Social Services was called on the father, I doubt we will ever know.

BALTIMORE -- Local advocates are using a tragic story of a 5-year-old sold as a sex slave, to talk about human rights abuses in Baltimore.

On Tuesday, authorities in Fayetteville, N.C., confirmed that a body discovered yesterday is that of 5 year-old Shaniya Davis.

Detectives accuse the girl's mother, Antoinette Davis, 25, of selling the child as a sex slave. Mario McNeil, 29, is being charged in Davis' kidnapping.

"Sorry baby that you have to do this, you are in a better place. You are in better hands. You don't have to hurt no more," Shaniya's father, Bradley Lockhart, said.

Numbers are difficult to come by in the shadowy world of child sex trafficking, but it is prevalent enough in Maryland that there is a state task force assembled to address the issue.

WBAL-TV 11 News spoke to a member of the task force who has spent years trying to reach victims.

Sidney Ford, of You Are Not Alone, or YANA, is part of Maryland's Human Trafficking Task Force. She's counseled women who have sold their own children into prostitution and she said there are willing buyers in the Baltimore area.

"Right here in Baltimore, there are people who are willing to pay big bucks to have sex with children. (It) fuels the market for this really abhorrent practice," Ford said.

Ford said there are often missed opportunities to help victims like Shaniya before it's too late. She trains police officers to look out for potential red flags.

"In their routine calls, emergency rooms, down the street, when they see certain types of situations happening that they ask questions that go beyond the immediate situations," Ford said.

Situations which she said play out on Baltimore streets every day and often come to light if you ask the right questions.

"A woman saw an 11-year-old out on the corner. Her mother flew out of her house and said, 'You need to make $500 tonight or I will beat your ass,'" Ford said.

It's too late to save Shaniya, but those who advocate against human sex trafficking hope her story will shine light on the practice.

Ford adds that traffickers, including parents, often threaten kids or get them hooked on drugs or alcohol to make them less likely to run away or ask for help.

There is a national hotline set up for victims -- that number is 1-800-373-7888.

Three weeks before Shaniya Davis disappeared, the Fayetteville man accused of kidnapping her was allowed to end his supervised probation six months early.

Mario Andrette McNeill, 29, was on unsupervised probation when police say he kidnapped 5-year-old Shaniya on Nov. 10, according to Cumberland County court records.

At 6:11 that morning, video surveillance at the Comfort Suites in Sanford captured a man police identified as McNeill carrying Shaniya into the motel.

Shaniya's body was found Monday in woods off a rural road south of Sanford.

McNeill appears to have been treated with leniency for years by an overburdened court system.

On June 17, 2001, court documents show, McNeill shot Roland Lee Mays in the face, neck, shoulder, chest and stomach. The records indicate that McNeill injured two other people that day, as well. He was charged with multiple counts of assault inflicting serious bodily injury.

A year later, apparently while awaiting trial in the shootings, McNeill was charged with possessing marijuana and trying to manufacture and sell it.

The charges from the two cases were consolidated, records show, and McNeill was allowed to plead guilty to lesser counts. He was sentenced to 40 to 50 months of supervised probation in June 2003, the records show.

Two months later, in August 2003, McNeill violated terms of his probation by failing to notify probation officers of his whereabouts. He was sent to prison. Records show that he entered the prison system in October 2003 and was released in May 2006.

It didn't take long for McNeill to get into trouble again. Three months after his release, records show, McNeill was charged with possession with intent to sell marijuana and cocaine and with maintaining a vehicle for drug use.

The records show that McNeill pleaded guilty to reduced charges - a misdemeanor offense of maintaining a vehicle for drug use - and again was placed on supervised probation, on Jan. 1, 2007.

As part of the plea deal, District Court Judge Kim Tucker told McNeill that he could go on unsupervised probation if he tested negative for drugs three consecutive times, records show.

While still on supervised probation, McNeill was charged in April 2007 with possessing cocaine, records show. He was charged again in September 2007 - this time with hitting Fayetteville police officer R. Grimm with his vehicle while trying to flee from the corner of Bragg Boulevard and Ames Street. Records indicate Grimm was injured, but they don't say how badly. McNeill was charged that day with trying to elude arrest, reckless driving and assault on a government official.

Wayne Marshburn, who oversees the probation office in Cumberland County, said he had not fully reviewed McNeill's probation documents.

But Marshburn said people who behave while on probation typically serve only about half of their term.

McNeill was six months shy of 24 months on supervised probation when a judge agreed to place him on unsupervised probation. It's unclear from the records which judge made that decision.

"He had done well on probation," Marshburn said. "He had done everything he needed to do."

In many cases, Marshburn said, probation officers make recommendations to the court on whether someone's probation should be terminated.

But in 2007, he said, his office wasn't always notified when a person on probation had been charged with another crime.

That is much less likely to happen now, Marshburn said, in part because of the slaying of UNC student president Eve Carson in March 2008.

Since then, the state's probation department has come under intense scrutiny because one of the men accused of Carson's murder should have gone before a judge on a probation violation months before she was shot to death.

Laws that go into effect in December will further address problems with the state's parole and probation system, Marshburn said.

He called Shaniya's death a horrible tragedy, but he said there is no guarantee that she would still be alive today had McNeill remained on supervised probation.

"Hindsight is always very clear," he said. "People do bad things while being supervised. That provides solace to nobody. That's not what I would want to hear. But it's a fact.

"The bottom line, I still am satisfied with how our office handled the case."

Staff writer Greg Barnes can be reached at barnesg@fayobserver.com or 486-3525.Get your complete news report daily in The Fayetteville *******:

My ex called on some parents who were neglecting their kids. Their dog bit their daughte and she needed stitches and they lied to the hospitalabout what happened because they seem to love their dogmore than their daughter. They still have thatdog too. They also don't take their kids to the doctor, let their kids miss school if they are just running late, don't cook or clean, and when their oldest got hospitalized for being bipolar and attacking the father they had her hospitalized and then NEVER followed up on carefor her disorder after that. The same girl had a tumor on her ovary and had to have surgery, her mother scheduled a surgery for herself on the same day and wasn't even there for her daughter because she was in her own bed. The doctor said for her to take her back for her post op six weeks check up and the mom NEVER did. The girl is now a grown woman and gotmarried just to get insurance so she could go get her own medical stuff taken care of that hermother never followed up on. The State was all happy too look into it until my ex told them that the father was a cop, they then refused to look into the family at all and said that the information was too old (even though the younger daughter had just gotten stitches for that dog biting her) and then quickly got off the phone. I don't have a personal vendetta or anything against Child Protective Services but they seriously dropped the ball when they were called on that family but there are other families that happens with as well. Maybe Social Services was called on the father, I doubt we will ever know.

That's how CPS is in my area. They're slow to take kids from unfit parents.

I had a neighbor who had 10 children living in a 3 bedroom house. She was living off of welfare and only bought food that she and her on the lam boyfriend (15 years her junior) wanted. She was quick to beat her kids over the silliest things and she even had her boyfriend (father of #11 who was on the way) join too.

My sister and I befriended these kids so we heard all their horror stories. Their grandmother was constantly reporting them to CPS. Workers came to our school just to interview them almost weekly. Finally a fire mysteriously broke out at their house and they moved.

Later I met up with one of those girl's in high school. We were in the same grade and had a class together. She was a major druggie at this point (we were in the 9th grade!) and she told that it the fire was set intentionally to get the grandmother off the mothers back and to throw off CPS. It worked. How sad for those kids. They truly never had a chance.

These stories are horrifying and yet they're not unique. There needs to be a complete overhaul of the system. Things just aren't working.

So this is why McNeil admitted to kidnapping Shaniya. He admits guilt to the lesser crime and then only serves part of the sentence that he actually should be serving, just like he is used to doing. If they can't prove that he actually killed the girl, then they will just convict him on kidnapping.

well papers or no papers ......custody or no custody...if I thought for one second that my child was in danger at the hands of this woman.....trust me....I would have gone there and gotten my child back,,,,,one way or the other.....it might have not been legal...but I would have her.......promise you that,.......been there...done that.......

A-fricken-men HH. You and me alike.

I hate to say this, but it wasn't the aunt's child..had she done that she would have been arrested and the child placed with the mother until a court hearing..months away.

Does no one understand that custody rights in this country are bizarre at best. Especially for father's who are not assigned custody..as in this case..the law would say you have no rights until you go to court ...LE would not and could not do anything.

The father and the aunt were not in a position to steal her..that is how the court would have seen this. And if they would have had legal joint custody..nothing again..she was with her bio Mom. LE nor her Dad nor Aunt could have stopped this.

The only person who could have stopped this is her Mom. It is her Mom that sold this child...no one else.

I am becoming engrossed in this placing balme. I will say that to me only the bio Mom and her cohorts are to blame. I will step away now because I know that view is not popular.

I think I would have risked that..there was no formal custody rulings in place. If the police had gone to that trailer they would have removed ALL of the children and again we wouldn't have this awful outcome. The living conditions in the trailer weren't fit for human habitation. One phone call to the police would have been enough to save her...I would have done whatever it took..sometimes you just have to stand up and be counted.

Northern Rose, thanks for posting this so we can see it. However, am thinking that rather than voice my opinion on it, am gonna just . Seems to me that many have chosen up sides, and don't want to hear negative in any form about the dad. Even IF it's just a discussion on why what the dad and aunt are saying, are not matching up. Am gonna sit this out and just watch.. and wait.

After listening to the father, his sister, his children, friend, and ex father -in-law I know longer feel sorry for Shaniya dad.. The father apparently having 5 children who he does not seem to have the time or quality time for them.. His father-in-law, Brad friend who now has taken in Cheyenne were willing to take in Shaniya then let her go live with the druggie prostitute and her trash of friends but Brad disregard the safety and well being of his daughter and let Shaniya go... What was going on in Brad's life to make this uncareing , selfish decision? Why would he not let Shaniya go to his friend's home or his ex Father-In-Law home? Apparently brad you weren''t even checking in on Shaniya because you stated you did'nt even know she wasn't attending school..I have to agree with the father-in-law and say to Brad .. Shaniya would be here today but she isn't because of your hasty, careless, selfish, unloving decision to let her go live with the trash...This is something you will have to live with every minute of everyday of you life..

From what I just read I feel like the dad is just as much to blame. Of course, he didn't commit the crime but he knew she was being abused when she went there. Sounds to me like he just didn't feel like taking care of her anymore. He pawned his other daughter off on a neighbor. Who does something like that? I also said before that Murchison Road which is the road Sleepy Hollow park is off of is a terrible area. It's a very high crime area. People call it "The Murk" and it has always had a bad rep. If I was the kid's parent, I wouldn't let her anywhere near there. This dad knew he was putting her in a bad situation. In my mind, he is just as bad.

there is tons of blame that can go around in this case. if the people that were quoted in the recent article talking about shaniya's dad were so concerned then why didnt they call and make a report? if they were aware of what was going on then i believe they had a responsibility to report it. it's possible they did, but why run to the papers now about it when they could have called in to the appropriate authorities when this was happening?

Perhaps they DID call and make a report. Since DFC states "no comment" when they are asked if a complaint was filed, it is difficult for the man on the street to confirm and verify. Because of my occupation, I am required to report suspected child abuse and have done so many times. On the other hand, DFC has no requirements to communicate the outcome to the person who filed the report. When I was a school nurse I filed two reports in one week involving 2 families. One was an infected burn on the top of a 7 year old's foot . With much encouragement the child told me they were cig. burns inflicted by Mom's boyfriend because the child had knocked over his beer bottle by accident. The other was a 8 year old girl who had tested positive for gonorrhea after a throat swab. She came to my office because she had been unable to swallow any food or drink for 48 hours. The infection was passed to her by an uncle. When I called my second report for the week, the intake person told me that she was required by law to tell me I could be prosecuted for filing a "frivolous report." That was irrelevant to me as I was only trying to obtain help for these children but I can see how others could be intimidated and back off. This is only the tip of the iceberg. I have seen abuse so severe that I have cried myself to sleep at night and these children all have a place in my heart. There are many good people who do report and try to make a child's world a little safer, a little better, but we are sometimes prevented from doing our best because of road blocks in the system. For the sake of the children,this needs to change! Sorry for the long post. Tonight my heart is breaking a little bit.

No matter if the father was around, by all appearances, Shaniya was happy and well taken care of by her Aunt. Why on earth did they allowed her to live with her mother even for a short time is beyond my comprehension.

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Gotta drive down south in a min but I am wondering if when AD reported her missing at 5:30 pm and the dispatcher corrected her and said do you mean am that maybe Shaniya had really been gone since the night before. McNeil could've been taking her from motel to motel and maybe carrying her because she was worn out and couldn't walk? Maybe that is the trafficing part passing her to him to pros out? Sick, sick, sick, evil POS!

Raeford Rd. runs thru much of Fayetteville to Raeford. These 2 inhuman beings sit in their cells less then 2 miles from my home. Our local CBS affiliate just said that the 10am presser will be shown on their website. You would think any info about a crime this serious would be broadcast live. When I heard the first report of a missing child I thought maybe she had wandered away from her bus stop. Never did I think it would end up like this with an innocent child violated and ::MonkeyMad::murdered because of her own mother.

Fayetteville, N.C. Several people who were close to 5-year-Old Shaniya Davis and her father Brad Lockhart say they tried to intervene in the child’s life, because they felt the youngster was at risk.

A close friend of Brad’s, and his ex-father in-law both say they offered to take in Shaniya rather than let her live with her mother, because they say when the child was in the custody of her mother, bad things happened to her.

“My wife says she saw cigarette burns on Shaniya's arms,” said Lockhart’s friend Tim Allen who says he is very angry over what happened.

Byron Coleman, Brad Lockhart's ex-father in law, said Shaniya “had burns on her legs, arms and things” after visits with her mother.

“She had a cigarette burn on the corner of her eye which she claimed her grandma did when she went over there,” added Shaniya’s half sister Cheyenne Lockhart.

The three all claimed to NBC-17 that the 5-yr-old suffered physical abuse while in the custody of her mother.

“When you wanted sex that's where you went,” said Coleman. “You knew what the girl was doing. You knew what she associated with, so why place your daughter in that situation?”

“To me Shaniya would be alive today if she wasn't placed in that situation,” claims Coleman.

Coleman says he offered to give Shaniya a home, but says Brad Lockhart declined his offer.

Tim Allen tells a similar story.

“He had an alternative, I gave him a way out,” but Allen said Lockhart would not let him take care of Shaniya.

“I'm fighting mad. All this could have been avoided,” said Allen.

Allen had already taken in Shaniya’s half sister Cheyenne, because she said her dad wouldn't take care of her.

And Cheyenne says Brad Lockhart did not provide for Shaniya.

“He didn't take care of her, his girlfriends took care of her, she said. “He loved her, but she was raised by other people. “He hasn't been in her life.”

Meanwhile, the Cumberland County Department of Social Services says at this time, it can't comment on what it was doing with regard to Shaniya Davis because those comments might compromise the on-going criminal investigation.

Did any of Shaniya's family call for a "wellness check", the family members were very worried about the dire situation she was placed in just to give a second chance to this greedy mother. Did they know about the wellness check? I didn't.

Did Shaniya's family try to locate the custodian or the real estate of the trailer park?

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